


Hot Chocolate

by icemakestars



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Bad Pick-Up Lines, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 16:02:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9499361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icemakestars/pseuds/icemakestars
Summary: Gray visits the Magnolia coffee house regularly to spend time with his oldest friend, Cana. He doesn't expect to fall so quickly for a new member of staff.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Alternatively called:
> 
> The one with pining!Gray and ultimate wingman!Cana. Gotta love them.
> 
> For @lockandk3yfiction on tumblr, who is, by definition, A Babe.

Gray was the first person to admit that he was not a morning person. He hated getting up before eight in the morning, and was convinced that the concept of 5 A.M. was a myth intended to scare young children, not something he would ever experience for himself. He felt blessed though that his oldest friend Cana had managed to become a barista at a coffee shop in town; he hated the mornings, but with a litre of caffeine sliding through his veins and a jovial chat with a good friend… not even Gray could stay agitated under those circumstances.

Wednesdays were his earliest start. The lecture he had began at eight-thirty, so he often woke up at seven. Not diabolical, but also not the ideal. Gray sighed as the small bronze bell announced his arrival, pulling his rucksack higher onto his shoulder and hoping that he had everything he needed for the day ahead. Glancing up, Gray searched idly for the bright laughter that Cana was often emitting, but instead he was met with nothing but a murmur of voices. He could not see Cana cleaning tables and flirting with customers, or slipping herself a whisky shot as she made drinks behind the counter. Instead, Gray could only see Mirajane- the manager of Magnolia coffee shop, but not usually working on a Wednesday- and another person that Gray did not recognise.

She was beautiful. There wasn’t really another word Gray could use, because everything else fell too short. Her eyes were wide and curious, her lips peeled back in an interested smile as she watched Mirajane work the machines, small fingers tucking unruly blonde curls behind her pink-tinted ears. It wasn’t like in literature, where female beauty can be described as ‘understated’ or 'adorable’. Although she was both of these things as well, this woman was positively ethereal, one of the most stunning people Gray had ever seen. He felt the affects of that fact instantly in the way that his neck flushed red and his heart beat became unsteady. Quickly, Gray scanned her body, ignoring the valleys and crevices that her curvaceous figure offered and focused on finding her name instead. She wore an apron, but no name tag, which meant that it had not been printed yet.

_She must be really new_ , Gray thought to himself, suddenly divided over what he should do next. On one hand, he was far too tired and startled by this new arrival to form a coherent sentence towards her, but on the other hand… Gray really needed a coffee. Deciding that his own first impression was more important than betraying his favourite coffee house, Gray left the door he had just come through, deciding instead to buy his morning necessity from a shop on campus. It was run by an irritable student called Gajeel. There would be no surprises waiting for him there. It was his safest option. Before he had even left the door, Gray pulled his phone to hand, getting up Cana’s contact and typing out a simple message.

_Fancy meeting for lunch today?_

~’*’~

Cana was sat in one of the booths furthest away from the counter, scrolling through her phone and sipping coffee from a white ceramic cup. It was almost two in the afternoon, and the shop had finished its lunchtime rush. Cana was on her first break; whenever she had  day without classes, she opted to work the full day. Her crippling student debts weren’t going to pay themselves, after all. When Gray pulled up a stool opposite to her, she did not glance up.

“Are you just working the till today?” He asks, noticing her lack of apron. She smiles at him, stretching her arms languidly over her head, back arched and yawning.

“Mira is training up the new girl so she can use the machines. I offered to do it, but…” She shrugs, not bothering to give an excuse as to why she was unsuitable for the job.

“But you would spend the whole day sneaking in whiskey shots meant for drinks and staring at the new girl’s backside?” Gray raises his eyebrow, crossing his arms and staring at Cana in something that falls  just short of judgement.

She laughs devilishly, taking a slow slurp of her drink. “O Ye of Little Faith! I’ll have you know that I have been nothing if not gentlemanly towards her.” Feigning offence, Cana raises her hand to her chest and clutched at the material that gathered there.

“There’s a surprise; I was sure that she’s your type.”

“She’s your type as well.” Cana points out, locking her phone and finishing her drink. Silently, Gray nods. “Besides, I’m working on someone else at the minute.” Cana smirks mysteriously, leaning forward and cupping her mouth as if she were going to reveal a great secret. Gray rolls his eyes; it was obvious who was the drama student between them. She had been this way since she was little, and it had grated on his nerves more than once over the years. Despite that, she was a good friend, and he was used to her eccentric behaviour. It made him more fond of her, in a twisted sense, and he struggled to imagine what she would be like without it. Gray mirrors her movement, making a display of freeing his ear from hair so that she could whisper to him.

“Do you see that blue-haired sort over there?” Cana indicates subtly to a girl sat by herself, azure hair falling in front of her face, obstructing her vision which was so ardently focused on the textbook in front of her.

Gray blinks once, twice, thrice, before letting out a choked-off gurgle, low in his throat. Coincidence was a cruel and fickle mistress, one that Gray had befallen more than once in his short eighteen years. This was too much though, too cruel.

“Juvia?!”

“You know her.” Cana states gravely, already discerning from Gray’s reaction what the nature of their relationship had been. Gray flinches at that, knowing that his reputation with both men and women alike truly preceded him. He had hoped that that life was finally behind him, but he had never really been one for wishful thinking.

Blushing, Gray hums softly. “We dated briefly at the end of secondary school, whilst you were away on holiday with your dad… it didn’t end well.” He grimaces at the memory alone.

Cana rubs her temple slowly, and Gray recognises the crestfallen look of self-destruction and defeat before she even speaks. It was an endless cycle that she forced herself through, a tempest of melancholy and anxiety that constantly prevented her from reaching everything she wanted in life. It saddened Gray to see her this way, and decided then that he would help her get the girl of her dreams.

“Of course it did.” She sighs, and her entire body deflates with the force of it.

“You definitely have a chance with her,” Gray starts hurriedly. “She’s bi, and you’re her type. She also likes to spend time around people before she approaches them, so the fact that she comes in here enough for you to notice her is promising.”

She smiles at his obvious attempt to raise her spirits, and the flash of innocent sincerity in her hickory coloured eyes serves as a reminder for Gray as to why they have remained friends for so long. It vanishes by the time she stands, stretching herself out again.

“I have to get back to work.” Cana rests her hand on Gray’s shoulder as she passes. He can’t decide whether it’s in sympathy or understanding. Either way, it doesn’t feel genuine. “Her name is Lucy, by the way. Talk to her; she won’t bite… although you would probably prefer it if she did.”

Cana struts away with melodic laughter trailing sinfully behind her, not bothering to wait and witness the scarlet flush of Gray’s skin and the incoherent way he babbles protest after protest. It was a scene that she is reasonably familiar with, anyway.

There was a headache blossoming just on the edge of Gray’s mind, and he tries his best to ignore it. He knows from experience how insufferable Cana can be with her teasing, and can’t quite decide if he could go through that just to see an attractive woman. It probably wasn’t worth it, after all.

As Gray grabs his bag and coffee to go, he convinces himself to avoid _Magnolia_  coffee shop until Cana stops being… well, Cana. It wasn’t as though he _needed_ coffee, anyway, was his justification. There were plenty of other shops and coffee houses in the city. Avoiding this one would be easy. That was what he hoped, anyway.

~’*’~

Gray went back every day. It was not a decision that he made consciously, but his eyes are just blinking open fully for the first time in the day and they meet Cana’s, wide and laughing. Mocking him, because she knew by the startled look on his face that he did not want to be there. Or that he did, far more than he should considering it is only a coffee shop.

The blonde girl- Lucy, Cana had called her- continues her training every day. Gray tries not to notice his disappointment at only getting to see her in stolen glances, and instead focuses his attention on not wringing Cana’s neck every time she serves him. He only barely manages it, and instead throws her teasing tone back at her.

“How’s Juvia?” He asks flatly.

Cana, although seemingly thrown for a second, is soon on her stride again, pulling a lever and pouring steaming coffee into a mug.

“She’s good. Great, actually; she’s taking me to dinner tonight.” She says it so calmly that Gray almost doesn’t notice the way that her fingers shake around the cup. He decides not to comment.

“So you finally made your move then?”

She clicks her tongue at him, grinning. “You’re one to talk… you do know that staring at a girl doesn’t constitute as interacting with her, right?” A teasing tone, as per usual, makes Gray flush darkly.

Before Gray can react with words, a short young woman with blue hair interrupts, and Gray moves out of her way so she can order. Cana switches quickly into her customer-friendly mode, and Gray chuckles to himself about her utter change of character. When the girl is content with her drink and money had been exchanged, Gray moves back against the counter and watches as Cana begins to clean the machines.

“Don’t turn this around on me, Cana Moonbeam Alberona.”

Gray would have to thank Gildarts one day that he was talked into giving Cana such an ‘embarrassing’ middle-name (Cana’s words. Frankly, Gray _loved_  it).

A pale cloth, frayed at the edges and drenched in soap and coffee, was suddenly hitting him around the head, and he bats it away idly.

“You promised never to mention that!” Cana hisses, cheeks flaring. Gray tilts his head back, resting his hand on his chin and scrunching his forehead in thought.

“Nope, don’t think I did.”

“Bastard!”

“You probably shouldn’t use that language around customers, Cana.”

Lucy appears from the back-room wiping her hands and grinning timidly. Gray jumps at her lyrical tone, eyes darting incredulously to Cana. He was sure that she wouldn’t be working until midday, so how could she possibly be here this early in the morning?

Cana’s eyes narrow, a smirk playing the edge of her features. A chill ran through Gray, and before he could stop his friend from doing something problematic, she flopa dramatically against the blonde.

“Oh, it’s just terrible, Lu-cy-chan!” Each syllable was a deliberate stab at Gray’s resolve. His teeth clamp down so hard, his jaw aches from the force. “I’m not feeling too good, so it is with a heavy heart that I will have to take a short break in the back until I am feeling of sorts again. Please serve this lovely gentleman in my steed, Lucy!”

With one last, laughing glance at Gray, Cana billows into the next room, like a storm passing. Although the destruction she left in her wake was clear as Lucy turns to greet him awkwardly.

“Lucy- _chan_?” She ponders.

“Her old man is half-Japanese.” Gray sighs, surprised that Cana hadn’t mentioned her heritage in the first week of knowing the girl.

“Right…” Lucy trails off softly, warily, casting her eyes back to the door to the back room which had just shut on its on accord. With a resigned huff of breath, Lucy picks up a pen from the counter and addresses Gray once again.

“So, what can I get you?”

There was no way for Gray to describe what floods his system in that moment, when Lucy’s chocolate eyes were focused on him, a tentative smile offered to him in a polite, social manner. Even if she treats every customer this way, even if he was just the eightieth person she had spoken to in that day, smiled at this week, even so; Gray was wrecked. Well and truly, and his response was instinctual.

“I’ll take a toffee apple frappe, please.” He squints over the menu, pretending to read the names of drinks that did not appeal to him.

Lucy shifts slightly, smile wavering. “Unfortunately we don’t offer that here, sir.”

Instead of 'fight or flight’, his brain seemed to work only on 'flight or idiocy’ responses. Seeing as he was struggling to breath, let alone leave the shop, the outcome of this exchange became seemingly inevitable.

“Well I guess I’ll just take your number instead then.”

_Well done, Gray. You’re clearly a regular Casanova. How do the ladies resist you._

She laughs shyly, a constellation of pink shining under the pale moonlight of her skin. She was beautiful, and men must say these things to her all of the time. He was just a drop in the ocean, a pebble on a beach filled with opportunities and happiness that Lucy could no doubt choose from. Even if she thumbed him gently, contemplatively, just to throw him back into the sea, he would accept that. He would accept anything she chose to give me. He did not deserve any of it, anyway.

“I can offer you a 'bonfire hot-chocolate’, which is apple syrup and toffee chunks in a hot chocolate?” Her gaze was averted, lips pulled into a straight, unassuming line.

Of course. Gray was stupid, but he wasn’t a fool. He felt the waters of disappointment lap at his feet, pulling him under. Anticipating this outcome didn’t make it any easier, and Gray wanted to leave this shop as soon as he could.

“That will be fine.” He says flatly, defeatedly, and yet with the most understanding smile he can muster. “To go.” Gray adds after a second.

Lucy nods, ducks behind the machines swiftly, eyes focused on the task in front of and nothing else. Gray bolts. There’s a spare table  near the counter and he claims it. As soon as his body slumps into the stiff embrace of the stall, his head hits his hand, breath shuddering out of him, torn from his lungs in utter frustration and mortification. He had been rejected before- what young person hadn’t?- but somehow this one hurt him the most. Or rather, this pain was still fresh, raw, and he had not yet had time to process it. To come to terms with it.

“Bonfire hot-chocolate to go!” Lucy’s voice raises to just above normal volume, knowing that Gray can hear her from the small distance between them.

The scrape of the chair is loud and vile, and sits uneasily in the silence that follows. Gray grabs the drink that he does not want and nods his gratitude at the girl who served him, slipping a note onto the counter and not bothering to collect any change. He does not need to search her face to know that she is not looking at his; she must be just as embarrassed from rejecting as he was from rejection.

Gray is already at the door when he realises.

The not-quite-paper of the cup is too hot in his palm, and he switches it to the other hand, grip shifting along the cup. That’s when he sees it, black splotches written in shaky Biro. Eleven digits, the tell-tale sign of a mobile phone number. Underneath it is simply 'Lucy :) x’. Everything is wonky, no doubt from the awkward angle it was written at, but the writing itself was beautiful. Or maybe that was just Lucy, or the Goddess and Gods who aligned the stars in such a way that allowed this ethereal woman to give him a chance. Either way, Gray didn’t care. It didn’t matter, not any more.

Being careful of his hot drink, Gray whips around to stare, wide-eyed, at Lucy. Cana, who is apparently feeling much better in herself, has her arm draped casually over Lucy’s shoulder, and Lucy is hiding quite obviously behind the withered rag Cana had used to hit Gray with.  She gives him a thumbs up, and Gray flushes anew, rushing from the store, grateful for the wall of cold hair that engulfs him as it promises to calm the redness of his cheeks and the erratic way his heart beat at the mere thought of wavy blonde hair and large, doe-like eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> Will there be a short side-story following Juvia and Cana? Most probably. Stay tuned folks. 
> 
> Reviews are the reason I wake up the morning.


End file.
